


The Frog Pitcher

by Redleaveshavefallen



Category: Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup!
Genre: Frog Prince AU, Gen, Kinda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-20
Updated: 2015-06-20
Packaged: 2018-04-05 05:57:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4168527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redleaveshavefallen/pseuds/Redleaveshavefallen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He must have been hallucinating. It was dehydration—or maybe he passed out from the heat, or got hit in the head with a stray baseball. Either way, there was no way this frog was talking to him. Especially not about how he was a pitcher—the one thing his team needed most.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Frog Pitcher

 

                It was a hot summer day, the afternoon sun scorching the poor players on the field. Abe could actually feel the sun’s rays beating into his skin. Taking off his hat and wiping sweat off his forehead, his brow crinkled against the bright sky. His hair was drenched, and sweat kept rolling down his neck. Not that it cooled him off any; even his sweat felt hot. In fact, he wondered if it weren’t ready to boil.

Deciding to take a break, Abe left the gated field with his water bottle. He strolled outside the gate, stretching open his shirt collar as he walked.

                “Ah, geez…first I’m stuck with a lousy pitcher, and then I move to a school with none? Just how bad is my luck?”

                Complaining, he decided, did not make him any cooler. Taking off his hat once more and beginning to fan himself with it, he opened his water bottle with the other hand and poured it over his head. The water trickled down his temples and his shirt front, some of it spilling onto the hot ground.

                “ _Ahhhhhh~!”_

                Abe about jumped into the air—a voice had come from his feet, satisfied and incredibly unexpected. The water bottle flew from his hand, clattering onto the soil. Liquid spilled out, hissing as it touched the ground.

                “Nononono, wait!” It was the voice again; Abe looked down to see a frog bouncing toward the spilled bottle. It landed in the small puddle, but the water quickly soaked into the parched earth. The frog let out a sound of anguish, nearly sobbing with disappointment. Abe could only gape as it flopped onto its side.

                “I’m done for! I’m going to dry out! It’s the enddd!” The frog was definitely sobbing now. Abe managed to shake himself out of his shock, leaning down so he could get a better look.

                “Um, that’s you talking, right?”

                The frog let out another sob, rolling onto its back. It seemed to already be giving up… it was a bit pathetic, actually.

                “Uh, well, I can get some more water, if that’s what you need—“

                In an instant the frog bounced to life, quickly hopping toward him with eager eyes. Abe cupped his hands so that the frog could jump into them, wondering absently if it had just been an act. Either way, he doubted the frog would have lasted too much longer in that heat…and it was hard to ignore something that talked with a human voice (albeit a sniveling, unconfident one).

                Leaving the water bottle behind, Abe reentered the practice field and ducked into the shade of the equipment shed. Along with the usual bats and balls, it had a few coolers of cold water bottles hiding from the sun. Abe set the frog down and started filling a small bucket with some of the water, all while wondering whether he was having some sort of strange dream.

                ‘ _That’s it_ ,’ Abe thought, ‘ _this is some sort of hallucination! I’m just dehydrated. Violently dehydrated. Or I passed out from the heat, or maybe someone batted a ball into my head. That must be it._ ’

                “I-is it done?” Abe looked back to see the frog wiggling oddly, curious eyes darting back and forth at an alarming speed. Every now and then, it would hop anxiously. Abe reminded himself that it was a figment of his imagination.

                “Yeah, hop in.” Abe stepped away from the bucket, and the frog leapt into it. The water splashed, almost reaching the rim of the bucket.After listening to a long, contented sigh, Abe peered over the edge of the container.

                The frog was swimming joyfully, powerful legs pushing him around in circles. He looked like the picture of pure bliss. Abe had to clear his throat a few times before he could even get the thing’s attention.

                “Ah! Um, uh, ummm… t-thank you! For the water!” Finally done with his swimming, the frog peered gratefully over the rim of the bucket. Abe nodded back to the frog awkwardly (He didn’t really know the protocol required for this sort of situation). Reaching into a cooler and pulling out another water bottle, he chugged it as he tried to think of what to do next.

                The frog watched nervously from his makeshift pond. “So, um, I kind of, I overheard you say…” His large eyes shifted to Abe’s uniform. “You play baseball here?”

                Abe finished off the bottle, wiping his lips and turning to the frog. “Yeah, though we aren’t much of a team. Out of all the people who signed up, there isn’t a single pitcher among us.”

                The frog gave a startled croak. “Really?”

                “Yeah. We have one guy trying to learn, but none of us have ever done it before. And since we only started the team this year, we only have first years.” He leaned back, letting his head roll back. “The season just started, and we’re already doomed to fail.”

                The frog swam back and forth, wiggling curiously and making the water churn in the bucket. It opened its mouth multiple times, only to close it. The internal debate was clear in its eyes. With each slap of the water he heard against the bucket, Abe felt his patience dwindle.

                “Um, I…” he paused after finally starting to speak, and Abe fought the urge to kick over the bucket, “I’m a pitcher!”

                Abe shot straight up. “…You’re a frog.”

                “I am now, but before I was the a-ace! I would have been in high school this year!” The frog hopped excitedly, more water splashing the sides of his container. “I-I was turned into a frog! By my old team!”

                “You were cursed by your old team?” Abe leaned forward, staring into the bucket with interest. The frog shrunk into himself.

                “Y-yeah… Probably because I wasn’t very good. It was my fault we keep losing, so…” The frog ducked his head into the water, making a few bubbles.

                Abe crossed his arms. “Okay, so your team kept losing, they got angry, and they turned you into a frog.” He furrowed his brow in thought. “What kind of breaking balls could you throw?”

                The frog poked his head up timidly, his eyes still trained on the water. “Um, it was kind of…” And then he swam in a few patterns, muttering a small “like this”, “and this” after each one. Abe’s eyes slowly widened.

                “Are you sure it wasn’t another team that put the curse on you?!”

                The frog shook his head vigorously, although it made the rest of his body shake as well. “Definitely not! I mean, I wasn’t very good… they always told me so.”

                A pitcher coming to their school just when they needed one, and their age at that… Abe wondered whether it was a bit too convenient. But then he remembered that this was all a product of heatstroke and immediately felt better.

                “Well, since I’m speaking with a frog, I guess your story isn’t too hard to believe. So what’s your name, frog?”

                The frog let out a startled squeak (a strange noise for a frog) and made a small splash. “Mihashi Ren!”

                Abe nodded. “Okay, Mihashi. I’m Abe Takaya. How do we break your curse?”

                Mihashi jumped over and over excitedly, the water churning violently. His eyes absolutely sparkled, every part of his amphibian body radiating energy. “You just need to, k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k- _Croak!_ ”

                At each stutter, his excitement had seemed to disappear more and more, until he was floating limply in the water. His eyes were downcast, though they continued to nervously dart to the sides. Abe frowned, and Mihashi shrunk deeper into the water.

                “Well?” Abe glared at the frog, losing patience. Really, he would have lost patience a long time ago, had his conversational partner not had been a talking frog. But with the terrible heat and Mihashi’s constant wavering, Abe wasn’t sure whether he wasn’t already at his limit.

                Mihashi began kicking himself in slow, melancholy circles. “Maybe I should just stay a frog…I wasn’t any good anyway….” It was almost as pathetic as the death scene from earlier. Abe could feel his blood boiling, his already dismal patience hitting a record low.

                “You have no confidence as a pitcher, do you?! No wonder you were cursed! Do you even want to pitch again?!”

                Mihashi’s frog body tensed sudden, the limp hopelessness out of him faster than lightning. “ _I do!!!”_ He gave a violent leap, the force of it enough to knock the bucket over. A startled Abe instinctually shot out to catch him, the frog landing perfectly in his hands.

                “Abe, kiss me!!”

                Abe nearly dropped him. He found himself sputtering just like Mihashi had earlier. “W-what?”

                “That’s how we break the curse! You have to kiss me, Abe-kun!”

                Abe looked cautiously at the frog—and saw, with dread--- that he was completely serious. His big eyes were trained on him, intense and full of determination. Abe tried to swallow, but his throat was too dry. The frog continued to stare.

                Mihashi was definitely a frog. He was wet, and slimey, and a frog, and gross, and unsanitary, and also a frog. Was this worth it? Was he so desperate for a pitcher that he would kiss a frog?

                Yes. Yes he was.

                Taking a deep breath, he gave Mihashi another look. Yep, still a frog. But while Abe searched for excuses, he was always surprised to find something within him resonating with the frog. He wanted to believe in Mihashi. Maybe he already did. That, even more than kissing a frog, might have been the thing that scared him.

                “…If this works, you follow my every call, got it?”

                “It will work!” Mihashi was still staring intently, no trace of hesitation. The confidence made Abe’s hesitation weaken.

                Abe shut his eyes tightly enough to make his forehead ache, and slowly, he leaned in toward the frog. His heart was hammering in his chest, dreading the feel of slimy, froggy skin… but his lips made contact with something soft and dry.

                Pulling back, Abe opened his eyes to find a blond, wide-eyed boy in front of him. The boy looked at Abe first, before his eyes started flickering all over his body, his head moving about wildly. His shoulders started visibly trembling, and as he held his hands in front of his face and wiggled his fingers, tears began to fill his eyes.

                “Abe-kun…. I-it worked! Thank you, thank you!” He threw himself at Abe, and after a second of shock, Abe wrapped the small boy in a crushing hug. Relief overwhelmed him; joy flooded his body in a way he did not fully understand.

                A few players poked their heads into the shed. “Hey Abe, what have you been—Abe?!”

                Abe turned to his teammates, a smile stretched across his face. He was laughing, he realized, the sound blending into Mihashi’s joyful crying. He took one hand off Mihashi’s back to wave at the boys in the doorway.

                “Guys, we have a pitcher now! Can you believe it?” He started laughing again, louder, and hugged Mihashi just a bit tighter.              


End file.
